Abstract

This paper focuses on sintering kinetics of inkjet printed lines containing silver nanoparticles deposited on a plastic substrate. Upon heat treatment, the change of resistance in the printed lines was measured as a function of time and sintering temperatures from 150 to 200 C. A critical temperature was observed for the sintering process, beyond which there was no further reduction in resistance. Analysis shows the critical temperature correlates to the boiling point of the solvent, which is attributed to a liquid-mediated sintering mechanism. It is demonstrated that the sintering process shuts down after the solvent has completely evaporated.

@article{osti_1234315,
title = {Sintering Kinetics of Inkjet Printed Conductive Silver Lines on Insulating Plastic Substrate},
author = {Zhou, Wenchao and List, III, Frederick Alyious and Duty, Chad E and Babu, Sudarsanam Suresh},
abstractNote = {This paper focuses on sintering kinetics of inkjet printed lines containing silver nanoparticles deposited on a plastic substrate. Upon heat treatment, the change of resistance in the printed lines was measured as a function of time and sintering temperatures from 150 to 200 C. A critical temperature was observed for the sintering process, beyond which there was no further reduction in resistance. Analysis shows the critical temperature correlates to the boiling point of the solvent, which is attributed to a liquid-mediated sintering mechanism. It is demonstrated that the sintering process shuts down after the solvent has completely evaporated.},
doi = {10.1007/s11663-014-0288-4},
journal = {Metallurgical and Materials Transactions. B, Process Metallurgy and Materials Processing Science},
number = 3,
volume = 46,
place = {United States},
year = 2015,
month = 1
}

In this work, the novel method of intense pulsed light (IPL) sintering of a nanoparticle silver ink is presented. Various patterns are printed with the Inkjet technology on two flexible foils with different light spectra. One is a clear Polyethylenterephthalat [PET] foil and the second is a light brownish Polyimide [PI] foil. The samples are flashed with different parameters regarding to pulse intensity and pulse length. Microscopic images are indicating the impact of the flashing parameters and the different light spectra of the substrates on the sintered structures. Sheet and line resistance are measured and the conductivity is calculated. Amore » high influence of the property of the substrate with respect to light absorption and thermal conductivity on the functionality of printed conductive structures could be presented. With this new method of IPL sintering, highly conductive inkjet printed silver patterns could be manufactured within milliseconds on flexible polymeric foils without damaging the substrate.« less

Inkjet deposition is one of the most attractive fabrication techniques for producing cost efficient and lightweight electronic devices on various substrates with low environmental impact. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the most used and reliable additive manufacturing processes by extrusion of wire-shaped thermoplastic materials, which provides an opportunity for embedding printed electronics into mechanical structures during the building process and enables the design of compact smart structures that can sense and adapt to their own state and the environment. This paper represents one of the first explorations of integrating inkjet deposition of silver nanoparticle inks with the FDMmore » process for making compact electro-mechanical structures. Three challenges have been identified and investigated, including the discontinuity of the printed lines resulting from the irregular surface of the FDM substrate, the non-conductivity of the printed lines due to the particle segregation during the droplet drying process, and the slow drying process caused by the skinning effect . Two different techniques are developed in this paper to address the issue of continuity of the printed lines, including surface ironing and a novel thermal plow technique that plows a channel in the FDM substrate to seal off the pores in the substrate and contain the deposited inks. Two solutions are also found for obtaining conductivity from the continuous printed lines, including porous surface coating and using a more viscous ink with larger nanoparticle size. Then the effects of the printing and post-processing parameters on the conductivity are examined. It is found that post-processing is a dominant factor in determining the conductivity of the printed lines.« less

Printing silver nanoparticle inks to generate conductive structures for electronics on polymer substrates has gained increasing relevance in recent years. In this context, the Aerosol-Jet Technology is well suited to print silver ink on 3D-Molded Interconnect Devices (MID). The deposited ink requires thermal post-treatment to obtain sufficient electrical conductivity and adhesion. However, commonly used oven sintering cannot be applied for many thermoplastic substrates due to low melting temperatures. In this study a new sintering technology, selective light sintering, is presented, based on the focused, continuous light beam of a xenon lamp. Sintering experiments were conducted with Aerosol-Jet printed structures onmore » various polycarbonate (PC) substrates. Especially on neat, light transparent PC, silver tracks were evenly sintered with marginal impact to the substrate. Electrical conductivities significantly exceed the values obtained with conventional oven sintering. Adhesive strength is sufficient for conductive tracks. Experiments with non-transparent PC substrates led to substrate damage due to increased light absorption. Therefore a concept for a variation of light sintering was developed, using optical filters. First experiments showed significant reduction of substrate damage and good sintering qualities. The highly promising results of the conducted experiments provide a base for further investigations to increase adhesion and qualifying the technology for MID applications and a broad spectrum of thermoplastic substrates.« less

In this paper, we report a simple method to form conductive copper lines by scanning a single-beam femtosecond pulse laser on a plastic substrate covered with copper nitride (Cu{sub 3}N) film. The Cu{sub 3}N films were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering in the presence of an Ar + N{sub 2} atmosphere at 100 °C. The influence of the laser power and scanning speed on the formed copper line width, surface features, and morphology was analyzed by means of optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, non-contact 3D profilometer, and scanning electron microscopy. The experimental results demonstrate that low laser power and low scanningmore » speed favor the formation of uniform and flat Cu lines. After process optimization, copper lines with a width less than 5 μm were obtained, which provides an attractive application prospect in the field of flexible electronic devices.« less

Thin film pi-conjugated poly(3,4ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulphonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as a hole transport layer on indium tin oxide is a key element in some of the most efficient organic photovoltaic and light emitting devices to date. Films are typically deposited by spincoating, which is not readily scalable. In this paper we investigate the critical parameters for both inkjet and ultrasonic spray deposition of PEDOT:PSS thin films on commercial indium tin oxide as a potentially scalable approach to contact formation. Inkjet parameters investigated include drop spacing and substrate temperature. Ultrasonic spray coating parameters investigated include substrate temperature and solution flow rate. We also showmore » that the ink viscosity has a Newtonian character, making it well suited for inkjet printing. Films were characterized via optical profilometry, sheet resistance and atomic force microscopy. Optimized inkjet printed and ultrasonic sprayed PEDOT:PSS films were then compared to spincast layers in a prototypical bulk heterojunction photovoltaic device employing a poly(3-hexylthiophene) and [6,6]-PCBM (6,6-phenylC61-butyric acid-methyl ester) blend as the absorber. Practically all three approaches produced devices of comparable efficiency. Efficiencies were 3.6%, 3.5% and 3.3% for spin, spray and inkjet depositions respectively.« less